North’s Olivia Harpel ripped home a goal at the halftime buzzer and added two quick ones to start the second half to get the Knights (11-1) within striking distance at 10-8.

In the next two minutes, the Quakers’ (13-0) Tristan McGinley and Marie McCool each scored, and the lead was back to a comfortable four goals.

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“We hung with them for a while,” Harpel said. “As they start to pull away, that’s when some of our weaknesses are exposed.”

Moorestown dominated the rest of the game and remained undefeated.

“It ended up being a possession thing,” North head coach Beth Serughetti said of the Quakers taking total control. “I think Moorestown was a bit cleaner in the second half, too, and that made it harder because (the ball) was ending up in our goal instead of on the ground or a check that we could pick up.”

It was a back-and-forth first half, but the Knights never had the lead. A majority of the opening 20 minutes saw the Quakers lead by one or two goals. The game was tied three times, and the biggest lead was Moorestown by five at 10-5 before Harpel’s buzzer-beating strike.

Harpel scored six times for North, and her sister, Carli, tallied the other two goals.

Eva Boal made some big saves for the Knights. She stopped nine shots against Moorestown, many of which were from point-blank range.

“Eva played really well,” Serughetti said. “She’s kicking herself and she shouldn’t. She played so well. Every shot that was scored was a legitimately great shot. ... I was really happy with how Eva played. I think she was very determined.”

McCool led state powerhouse Moorestown team with five goals. Lauren Martinelli, Melanie Becker, Jessica Dadino and Kierstyn Voiro each scored a pair. Voiro also tallied three assists.

“(Moorestown has) phenomenal players,” Olivia Harpel said of girls she has played against for years. “You have to give them a lot of the credit. ... They definitely deserved a 10-goal win.”

When facing a team with such a decorated history like Moorestown, it would have been easy for North to be intimidated. But that wasn’t the case.

“You never should (come into a game afraid),” Harpel said. “It doesn’t matter who you play — obviously Moorestown is an amazing team. ... You have to be excited for that, and I think we were really excited for that. That’s what competition is.”

The Knights look to learn from their loss against the second-best team in the nation and use it to improve the rest of the season.

“We are going to take this game and have it help propel us through MCTs and states,” Serughetti said. “And who knows, maybe we’ll meet (Moorestown) again, which is what we would love to do.”

“I’m glad to be part of a team that can keep their heads up and say, ‘This is what we’re going to do better and this is how we’re going to grow from it,’” Harpel said.